Australia's
richest people have been named for 2005
by the Business Review Weekly (BRW) magazine.
Like most rich lists that have been compiled
around the world this year, Australia's
richest have become richer.

The
BRW business magazine has reviewed the 200
richest people in Australia. The total wealth
of the 200 has increased by an estimated
$11.85 billion Australian dollars (AUD).
Their combined wealth is now $83.37billion
AUD, with an average of $417 million each..
while the average Australian household in
2004 had just $467,000 in net worth.

Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL)
chairman Kerry
Packer remains Australia's richest man,
increasing his wealth this year by an estimated
$400 million AUD, to have a total of $6.9
billion AUD. (Packer came in 94th on the
Forbes
richest people in the world list for
2005).

The shopping center empire of Frank Lowy
helped increase his wealth by $600 million.
Lowy, head of the Westfield Group of companies
with shopping centers spread across the
United States and Australia has an estimated
wealth of $4.8 billion AUD and is Australia's
second richest man. Lowy is trailed by Richard
Pratt ($4.7 billion AUD), Harry Triguboff
($2 billion AUD), David Hains ($1.9 billion
AUD), and gaming machine manufacturer Len
Ainsworth with $1.6 billion AUD coming in
6th wealthiest Australian.

Other notables on the BRW rich list this
year include the famous Australian golfer
and now entrepreneur
Greg Norman with an estimated $250 million
coming in 111th on the list after increasing
his wealth by $20 million during the past
12 months. The Oscar winning actress Nicole
Kidman also increased her wealth by $35
million with a total net worth of $190 million.
While entrepreneurial retailer
Gerry Harvey dropped $40 million, yet
still keeps his "billionaire"
title, having an estimated $1.1 billion
AUD.

Australia now has a total of 17 billionaires,
up from just 11 billionaires last year.
The youngest individual on the list is 31
year old Nicole Perrin, who shares $120
million with her husband Matthew Perrin
with shares in the international surfwear
company Billabong. There were just 11 women
on the rich 200 list, down from 13 last
year.

These gains are in spite of cooling property
prices in Australia, a falling stock market
and a soft retail environment. Proving that
the rich can get richer even under challenging
economic conditions. It's often under challenging
circumstances when the rich have their greatest
increases in wealth, with cheap assets more
readily available.